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Cell Phone Use Affects Fertility, Study Shows

The Cleveland Clinic study shows that men who used their cell phones for four hours a day or more had the greatest damage to their sperm.

Heavy cell phone use may have a significant impact on the fertility of men, according to a study released in late October by the prestigious Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio.

The study, conducted by Dr. Ashok Agarwal and in PDF abstract here, reported on the results of 364 men who used cell phones for varying amounts of time each day.

According to Agarwal, men who used their cell phones for four hours a day or more showed the greatest damage to their sperm.

"Those differences are highly significant," Agarwal told eWEEK.

He said that he can only speculate on the reason for the damage, but he said its likely to be the effects of the electromagnetic radiation emitted by the cell phones when they transmit, as they do in use.

"Men that use cell phones had a decreased sperm quality compared with those who dont. Those who use it for long periods of time had a much more profound decrease," he said.

Agarwal said that his study was consistent with previous studies conducted in 2002 and 2005 that found a relationship between exposure to electromagnetic radiation and fertility, as well as with animal studies.

Agarwal said that other studies showed that electromagnetic radiation may cause DNA damage in mice.

The study used only GSM phones operating in frequencies ranging from 800 to 1900 mHz.

According to Agarwal, the Cleveland Clinic is planning a follow-up study that will look at some of the variables that werent considered in this test.

Those variables include the type of phone, the specific frequency and type of transmission.

"There are hundreds of questions that need to be addressed if these findings turn out to be true," Agarwal said.

He mentioned that no one knows whether cell phones have the same effect on women, for example.